Jim Nalley’s name is synonymous with thundering success in the automobile business. A mere mention of “Nalley” to people across the state of Georgia, especially in Greater Atlanta, will likely get a reaction such as, “I have driven one of his cars all my life.”

He was one car dealer whom you would never see promoting his products in television commercials—but he was nonetheless a resounding success for over 40 years. However, there was a quiet side that reflected that he was more than just a business titan.

It all began with his grandfather, C. V. Nalley Sr., who opened a dealership in Gainesville in 1918—the Dodge Brothers distributor of Northeast Georgia. His father, C. V. Nalley Jr., a great friend of former Bulldog head coach Wallce Butts, followed in the family business, enjoying considerable achievement and paving the way for the current C. V. Nalley, UGA Class of ’65, to become a cleanup hitter in the business. At the peak of his career, Nalley III owned 22 franchises in Georgia (Atlanta, Albany, and Brunswick), Charlotte, Chattanooga, and Washington, D. C.

In 2002, he joined other dealers to form the Asbury Group, a New York Stock Exchange company that owned 75 dealerships across the country, with him running the “Atlanta platform” until he retired in 2015. In 2007, his three boys organized the “Sons Auto Group,” a business triumvirate which now owns eleven franchises.

When the boys were coming along, he required them to first get experience in another business, and then they worked in the family company in the summers, part time, when they were in college.

If they eventually joined the family business, which was their option, they were required to work in parts, service, and the body shop before they moved into sales and management—literally learning the business from the ground up.

Today, the patriarch’s role is that of “Senior Advisor whose phone never rings.” Knowing that your sons have formed a flourishing business and that they no longer need pop’s advice is, perhaps, the most fulfilling professional highlight a father can experience.

It also indicates that they were taught and trained well and were eager listeners who were “counseled well and never put up wet.” “Like father like son” (or sons) has never been more brilliantly displayed. They will likely be chips off the old block in following in their father’s footsteps. That is good news for alma maters, local charities, and community enhancement opportunities.

Jim Nalley always supported charity, lending a helping hand to his community over the years—but he never took a bow. Motivated by his engaging wife Rene, he was a patron of the arts, but he let others be the beneficiaries of applause and tribute. He was never the showoff at school, growing up in Gainesville, the “poultry capital of the world.” He was never the life of the party—he was the anthesis of an attention-getter.

On the golf course, where he enjoyed so many happy hours, he never pouted when he lost, always offering sincere congratulations to his opponent. There was never a good sportsmanship protocol that the senior Nalley didn’t embrace. Like George Washington, if he had cut down an unauthorized cherry tree, he would have owned up to it.

When the football coach at his alma mater, the University of Georgia, failed or was failing, he neither organized an epithet-shouting vigilante party among his circle of friends nor clamored for a change. He preferred to be less spoken than outspoken. The only time he has been eager for his photograph to be taken is when it involves his family.

In fact, you won’t get much out of him if you ask about the dozens of boards he serves on, the more than 10 schools and colleges he has supported, the various alliances he has joined in the automobile dealer world, or the countless charities he supports—but ask him about his family, principally his children and grandchildren, and his smile could light up Six Flags on a summer evening.

Over the years, you could find him at cultural events, again happily yielding to the influence of Rene, as well as at big games Between the Hedges. He loves it when Kirby Smart’s charges illuminate the scoreboard in Sanford Stadium but also revels in one of UGA’s milestone achievements, such as being a top-ranked academic institution in the country.

Business success has afforded him travel options that have become a staple of his annual routine, spending time at their Meuse House in London along with vacation excursions to Provence and playing the best golf courses around the world.

You can find him at signatory UGA events, including big games in Sanford Stadium, charity balls, and, most of all, family events with his children and grandchildren. You might see his son, Clay, with his two boys at Add Drugs in Five Points and find most of them Between the Hedges— with the exception of Slater and his family. With no intended offense to anyone, he decided to break family tradition and enroll at Ole Miss. It was solely his choice to “do something different.”

When Chase Nalley graduates from UGA in 2026, he will be the fourth generation C.V. Nalley to have qualified for a diploma from the University of Georgia, a point of pride for the Nalley clan.

The Nalley family has always been well-rounded, and suddenly they are all embracing something new—pickin’ and singin.’ Slater Nalley Jr., a precocious, dyed-in-the-wool football fan who has played many touch games where the family parks for Georgia home games, has already put down roots in Nashville where he is embarking on a music career after finishing in the top 5 in last season’s American Idol.

Slater has already signed a career-boosting contract with Warner Music Group, enjoying his new life in Music City while keeping Georgia on his mind. The family tradition dictates that emotion remains intact.

His head-turning success has excited all in the Nalley family, especially Jim and Rene, who appreciate most of all that their grandson is a “good guy.”

“Slater’s future is off the charts,” says Rob Moran, a movie producer living in Atlanta. “He is a remarkable talent.”

Rave review is not likely to turn this young man’s head, however, since modesty trumps ego. After all, he is a Nalley.